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All posts for the month February, 2013

I found the Pakistani singer Zubaida Khanum by following some of my favorite stars of ’40s films from India. She did singing in quite a few Noor Jehan films, and she also did playback for Swaran Lata (of Ratan fame), Rehana, and the “Lara Lappa girl,” Meena Shorey.

I may have said in my last post that Zubaida Khanum was no match for Noor Jehan, but that’s not a fair contest. Zubaida was a fine singer in her own right.

For my list, I have included only solo songs, but as a bonus, I added a duet that I just found, a women’s qawwali led by Zubaida singing with Iqbal Bano. I also love the duet that I included in the last post, but we can call that a Noor Jehan song and let Zubaida shine here without being overshadowed.

Here’s to Zubaida Khanum!

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Bonus:
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P.S. I briefly posted this as a seven-song list, but that wasn’t enough, and the list wasn’t quite right. I came up with a better list after doing some research of old posts and comments. Comments from Mr. Jinx were especially helpful!

I haven’t posted songs from the Pakistani Choo Mantar for a while, though I did post a couple in the past. So now, here are more… I suspect the Indian version of this film is better known, but I actually learned about the Pakistani version first (a few years back) because of Noor Jehan. And the music here is, of course, wonderful. Now our friend Tom has posted every Noor Jehan song in the film, and that gave me the chance to include all the ones that I’d left out so far…

I love this Sing Off! Noor Jehan and Zubaida Khanum (whom I have liked a lot for a few years – but who I have always known could not be a match for Noor Jehan).

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I had this one on a “Noor Jehan Evergreen Hits” compilation, and I have listened to it a lot on buses and subways… But I actually didn’t know – or had forgotten – that it is from this film too. I like the comments at the end, by the way: “What singing!” “Excellent.” I couldn’t agree more…
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This is beautiful too:
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And this:
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All such great singing, and great music, too (by Rafiq Ali). And by the way, I think Noor looks gorgeous here too.
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P.S. OK, I’ve changed my mind about something: I have decided that I will post the ones that I’d posted before (only this time using Tom’s new uploads): The “Heya Ho” song and the drag song. Here:
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I can’t put together a big Cuckoo birthday post this week like the one that I did on February 4, 2011. But for my tribute, here’s a nice video from the batch that Tom just put up from Mirza Sahiban (1947). I’ve posted this one before (and, of course, I’ve posted every other song from this film, too, since it was the last Indian movie starring Noor Jehan), but this copy looks crisper and clearer than the other one(s), naturally…

Many thanks to Minai for passing the word along. Go to her blog to get more information about getting (to) this. After viewing it once when I could not give it the attention that it fully deserved, I am going to have to watch it again or maybe a couple more times. Nonetheless, in a few places, it was very visually riveting for me. This copy has no subtitles, so I couldn’t really follow the plot (unfortunately, I’ve forgotten much of the little Hindi that I learned last year and so I am going to have to relearn!). However, much of the time, it seemed that the plot was beside the point. Most of the movie is enjoyable for the great visual feast, with often elaborate, extremely imaginative and/or surreal sets, fantastic costumes, and lots and lots and lots of exciting dance. And, of course, a very young Padmini. (I think I also recognized the debut of Usha Kiran. But I’ll have to double-check; I don’t really know that actress as well, nor was I looking for her as much. But I have enjoyed her performances before – or, rather, after…) Actually, I think as soon as I have a couple or few hours, I will look at it again.
————————New Information: Doing some searching tonight, I found that it is scheduled to be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the end of February. I might have to work evenings in February and I might have to move around the end of the month (if not sooner – though I am not sure where, but that’s another problem)… Nonetheless, I might take the evening off and do whatever else I need to do in order to see this film on the screen, with subtitles and everything.

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